- Jack: American voters want their leaders to be dumber than they are. They figure they'll do less harm that way.
- Jack: An Italian premier, just was just after Mussolini, was asked, "Is it difficult to govern Italians?" He said, "Difficult. No, not difficult. Only useless."
- Jack: It's the art of bringing people to agree on a certain course of action. If that course of action succeeds, the people are satisfied. If not, they're not. It's as simple as that. If it works, it's good. Period.
- Thomas: Isn't that exactly what you said 'why politics doesn't work anymore'? That politics, you said, needed to become the 'art of the impossible'?
- Jack: Whose side are you on?
- Thomas: Hers, obviously. She's intelligent, gracious and more attractive.
- Thomas: My brother and I were in our bedroom watching the heat lightening go off and he asked, "What's that?" and I said, "That's it. That's the big one. We're all gonna die."